Assignment 1: Vector spaces

Subject: MTH219 & MTH419

Due date: 12 August 2024
Value: 15% (40 marks)

Task:
This is a written assignment that covers material from Weeks 1-5, i.e. vector spaces, subspaces, bases and
dimension. To prepare for this assignment, you should complete Tutorials 1-6.
For each question you will receive marks for correctness, the selection and application of the correct
process or method, clear indication of your intermediate calculations, and your ability to interpret the
problem and present an appropriate mathematical solution. Please find detailed marking criteria at the end
of the assignment.

Rationale:
The assignment questions are designed for you to demonstrate your mastery of subject material covered in
Topics 1, 2 and 3 of the study guide. This task is designed to demonstrate your mastery of the subject
material in the associated topics and give you feedback on how you are doing in these topics. This assessment
item relates to subject learning outcomes 1 and 2. It encourages you to develop an understanding of a vector
space, basis and dimension of a vector space which are important components of linear algebra.

Presentation.
The assignment could be typed (preferred) or handwritten. Please follow the following recommendations
when writing your assignment:

ˆ Leave space between formulas so they don’t overlap and are easy to read. I recommend leaving a gap
of at least 0.5cm between the lines.
ˆ Don’t use pencil: it produces faint writing which may become unreadable after scanning. Instead use
normal or erasable pen.
ˆ Don’t use ink colours other than black/blue. Other colours may become unreadable after converting
to black-and-white or grayscale.

A handwritten assignment should be scanned and submitted electronically via as a single word or a pdf-
document. If you use your mobile phone to scan, please follow the following rules:

ˆ The recommended apps are Adobe Scan and Genius Scan (both free, available for both iOS and
Android)
ˆ Make sure you have good lighting in the room (daytime will give you a better result).
ˆ Put pages on your desk (don’t hold them in your hands).

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ˆ To minimise filesize, scan in black-and-white or grayscale.
ˆ Hold camera above the centre of the page and make sure it doesn’t capture too much of the background.
ˆ Scan pages in the right order and with the correct orientation.

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Question 1 (12 marks)
a) Consider a set U ⊂ R3 defined as follows U = {(x, y, z) ∣ x + 2y + 3z = 0}.

i. Give an example of a non-zero vector from U . (1 mark)

ii. Show that U is a subspace of R3 under the standard operations of vector addition and scalar
multiplication. (2 marks)

b) Consider a set V ⊂ R3 defined as follows V = {(x, y, z) ∣ x + yz = 0}

i. Give an example of a non-zero vector from V . (1 mark)

ii. Show that V is not a subspace of R3 under the standard operations of vector addition and
scalar multiplication. (2 marks)
Hint: Give an example of two vectors from V which fail to satisfy one of the closure condi-
tions.

c) Consider two subspaces of R3 , defined as follows U = {(x, y, z) ∣ x + y = 0, z = 0}

and V = {(x, y, z) ∣ x = 0, y + z = 0}.

i. Assuming the the standard definitions of vector addition and scalar multiplication in R3 , give
an example of a non-zero vector from the set P = {3u + 2v∣u ∈ U, v ∈ V }. (1 mark)
ii. Show that set P, under the standard operations of vector addition and scalar multiplication,
is a subspace of R3 . (2 marks)

d) Let V = M2 (R), the set of 2 × 2 matrices with real entries. Consider a set W ⊂ V of traceless
matrices:
a b
W = {( ) ∣ a + d = 0} .
c d

i. Give an example of a non-zero vector from W . (1 mark)

ii. Show that the set W is a subspace of V . (2 marks)

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Question 2 (8 marks)
Let P be the set of positive real numbers. One can show1 that the set P 3 = {(x, y, z)∣x, y, z ∈ P} with
operations of vector addition and scalar multiplication defined by the formulae

(x1 , y1 , z1 ) + (x2 , y2 , z2 ) = (x1 x2 , y1 y2 , z1 z2 )

and
c(x, y, z) = (xc , y c , z c ),
where c is a real number, is a vector space.
Find the following vectors in P 3 .

a) The zero vector. (1 mark)

b) The negative of (2, 1, 3). (1 mark)

c) The vector c(x, y, z), where c = 1

2 and (x, y, z) = (4, 9, 16). (1 mark)

d) The vector (2, 3, 1) + (3, 1, 2) . (1 mark)

e) Write the vector u = ( 21 , 4, 32) as a linear combination of p = (1, 2, 2) , q = (2, 1, 2) , and r = (2, 2, 1)
assuming that u, p, q, r ∈ P 3 .

(4 marks)

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You do not need to prove this!

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Question 3 (20 marks)
a) Given the polynomials:
p1 (x) = x3 − x2 + x + 1
p2 (x) = x3 + 2x2 + x − 1
.
p3 (x) = 2x3 − x2 − x
p4 (x) = 2x3 + x2 + 4x + 1

(i) Show that the set B = {p1 (x), p2 (x), p3 (x), p4 (x)} is a basis of P3 . (4 marks)
(ii) Find the coordinate vector of P (x) = 3x3 + 2x2 + 4x + 5 relative to basis B. (4 marks)

b) Let W be a subspace of R4 spanned by the set

Q = {(1, −1, 3, 1) , (1, 1, −1, 2) , (1, 1, 0, 1)}.

(i) Show that Q is a basis of W . (4 marks)

Hint: Show the the set Q is linearly independent. The fact that Q is a spanning set for W
is assumed by the question.
(ii) Does the vector u = (−4, 0, −7, −3) belong to space W ? If that is the case, find the coordinate
vector of u relative to basis Q. (4 marks)

c) Determine the dimension of and state a basis for the solution space of the following system:

x1 − x2 − 2x3 + 6x4 = 0
2x1 + x2 − 3x3 + 2x4 = 0
−2x1 − x2 + 5x3 + 2x4 = 0
5x1 + x2 − 10x3 + 6x4 = 0

(4 marks)

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Marking criteria
All questions in this assignment involve problems with a sequence of several steps. These are marked
using the following criteria:

Criteria Description
Correctness Arithmetic, algebra and calculations are correct (except possibly with some
minor rounding errors).
Process/Method The indicated/ correct method is selected and carried out completely.
Communication/Working You have made it clear what you have done using an appropriate mix of text,
mathematical notation, neat diagrams, code excerpts and computer outputs.

The mark for each question is determined by the proportion of your solution that satisfies these
criteria. A general guideline is provided below:

Full Marks Partial marks Zero Marks

Correct answer written as a clear re- Correct answer with incomplete work- Method and solution are
sponse to the original question. Full ing which lacks the appropriate nota- incorrect. No working to
worked solutions provided that are tion or reasoning. OR Incorrect or par- arrive at the solution is
clear, adequate and legible and use the tially correct answer with working that shown.
correct mathematical notation and rea- uses the correct method and appropri-
soning, with neat diagrams, code ex- ate notation and reasoning.
cerpts and computer output where ap-
propriate.